Court confirms revocation of Bidnija 'sheep farm' permit
'Cases like this will no longer be possible under proposed planning bills' - Moviment Graffitti
The court on Friday confirmed the revocation of a permit for a so-called “sheep farm” in Bidnija ODZ land marking the end of a years-long saga.
Moviment Graffitti welcomed the news, pointing out that under the proposed planning law reforms, cases like this brought by organisations “will no longer be possible”.
Moviment Graffitti and Din L-Art Ħelwa had submitted a request for the revocation of the permit issued by the Planning Authority for PA/7946/18 for “an enormous building” consisting of several floors, reception areas and a swimming pool in a rural area that lies within the Outside Development Zone and contains freshwater habitat of ecological importance.
Although this request was accepted, the PA ordered that the application be reprocessed instead of being definitively cancelled.
The NGOs appealed before the Planning Tribunal insisting that once the PA had revoked the permit, it could not order the application to be reprocessed and revived. They also insisted that additional reasons for revocation should be included - particularly the omission of the site’s scheduled status from the relevant forms.
The Tribunal confirmed the revocation of the permit in May ruling the permit should be definitively revoked.
However the applicant appealed in the courts.
On Friday, the court confirmed that the organisations were correct and the permit was definitively cancelled.
Lawyer Claire Bonello represented the organisations.